1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a projectile which contains flammable, corrosive, highly oxidizing or otherwise reactive materials.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The incendiary projectile devices of the prior art involve the following principal systems: (1) pyrophoric metal projectiles composed in part or entirely of a pyrophoric material such as iron-cerium alloys, zirconium, depleted uranium and similar other materials, employing the pyrophoric material as (a) the entire projectile, (b) entire composition of saboted projectile or (c) a structural component or adjunct to the previously noted uses, a or b above; (2) projectile or fragments containing magnesium-teflon compositions as incendiary projectiles; (3) high explosive incendiary projectiles employing an incendiary material in the explosive matrix or as a separate composition located within or adjacent to the explosive fill of the projectile; (4) certain Armor Piercing Incendiary Tracer small arms rounds contain an exothermic metal incapsulated in a non-explosive organic binder, reacting when the incapsulated material positioned behind the ogive and in front of the armor piercing penetrator is effectively collapsed at a very high rate upon impact of the projectile on an armored target; (5) other incendiary projectiles make use of an exothermic metal or metal alloys thereof; e.g. Al or Al-Mg plus an oxidizer material, e.g. KC10.sub.4, whereupon impact the heated exothermic metal reacts with oxygen from the heated KC10.sub.4 and from the surrounding atmosphere. There exist several combinations of exothermic metal and oxygen bearing chemicals that are utilized for incendiary uses.
Current incendiary projectiles have limited effectiveness for the initiation of high explosives, giving a varied, unpredictable degree of effectiveness against "soft" military targets and frequently require a fuze assembly for effective functioning of the reactive components.
The projectile of the instant invention fills a need that exists in terminal ballistics applications. There are a number of highly reactive chemicals that ignite spontaneously in air or on contact with combustible organic materials, however, the ability to perform ballistic tests of the referenced chemicals as incendiary agents, ignition sources or promoters of combustion has been hampered by the lack of reliable gun fired projectiles. It is a complex task to devise a projectile to contain liquid or solid chemicals that are highly reactive, quite corrosive, and may be gaseous at room temperature. Also, the projectile must be safely stored for extended periods of time, then loaded safely into a gun and survive the high pressure launch environment of a spin stabilized flight at muzzle velocities in the range of 3800 to 4000 feet per second.
The instant projectile, as originally conceived in a 20 mm diameter projectile is designed to carry internally a liquid or solid reactant material payload. The projectile is a proven device and has been used successfully for several series of ballistic tests.